Quarantine in China Day #04 & #05

Hang on Little Tomato…

That is the name of a sweet and comforting song from Pink Martini, which my sister shared with me. And listening to the lyrics I realized: the Little Tomato, that’s Hendrik Willem and me! We will hang on, hang on the the vine.
Well, it certainly beats waking up with Phil Collins in your head, what happend to me earlier this week. “Oh, think twice, it’s just another day for you and me in quarantine”.

But we have 1/3 in the pocket! I cannot say that time flies, in fact, it passes by as slow as a turtle on his lazy Sunday morning. But we are making progress and that is what counts. I mark every passed hour on the wall (on paper, no worries dear hotel staff). Which is interesting when you think about it, and I got plenty of time for that. Usually we do not like to count the hours, as it reminds us that time is slipping through our fingers and…it’s gone! But there are situations where you do feel the desire to countdown. For you birthday, for a well deserved holiday or just for the weekend to start. And now we can add for quarantine to end! That’s so 2020…

But it’s not all that bad, really. We get a lot of attention from our friends and family back home, which is much appreciated support! And also the hotel staff is very attentive to our needs. They come to check our temperature every morning. And every afternoon we get a call to ask how we are doing. Well, the minute you say you are good they disconnect the phone, but still, it’s nice. And one day Hendrik Willem was fast enough to say “I’m good, how are you” throwing the poor girl completely off guard.

It feels a bit as if we are getting used to it. Which is a good thing for several reasons. One being that you only make things harder for yourself when you keep resisting. It’s out of our control now, so we better just let it wash over us. Very Zen uh?
But another reason it’s good we are getting used to this, is that we were informed our isolation will be extended with another week once we reach the campus. So we will be released from the hotel after a total of 14 days (inshallah), then we will go to the campus and we need to isolate ourselves for another week in our appartement. Luckily we will be together in our future home, and our friends on campus already promised to deliver comfort food and…beer!! So we will overcome that little set-back as well….
Or not and then we just become alcoholics slumping in their own little bubble of craziness.

And with that positive note we like to wish you all, wherever you are, a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the sun on your cheeks, the wind in your hair, the rain on your skin, the walk outside, the visit to a pub, supermarket, grandma… We will just take it easy this weekend, relax a bit, maybe read a book or watch a movie. Can’t wait!

Enjoy the weekend, see ya!

It's gonna be a bright sunny day! & The room where it's all happening